He will be. But these last few games will be crucial. If someone goes hog wild, Crosby might lose it...just like Jagr did when he missed (as I recall) exactly one-quarter of the season...some voters have the "how valuable can you be when you're not on the ice...?" mindset.

Fair or not, the end of the year is more fresh in the minds of people, and even though he was nonexistent for 1/2 the season, he has been on fire. And with Crosby out, people may forget how truly dominate he was for 3/4 of the season.

I hate to say it, but if I had a vote, I think I would vote for Ovechkin at this point. I always think the Hart should be awarded to the player who means the most to his team, not necessarily the player who had the best season. Ovechkin has almost single-handedly brought the Caps back from the dead and put them in position to be the 3-seed (granted, it's a crappy division, but still). Take him away from that team, and they're probably in the lottery for the top draft pick.

On that same line of reasoning, I would give serious consideration to Anderson and Bobrovsky, since Ottawa and Columbus have no business doing as well as they are and so much of that success is due to goaltending. However, I don't like giving the Hart to a goalie, since they have the Vezina.

A coach is going to support his own player. I don't see why people are suprised at that. Oates isn't going to say... "Crosby is the best player, hands down the MVP". He is going to back his own guy, and I don't see the issue with that. He's wrong, but I think most coaches would do the same thing.

largegarlic wrote:I hate to say it, but if I had a vote, I think I would vote for Ovechkin at this point. I always think the Hart should be awarded to the player who means the most to his team, not necessarily the player who had the best season. Ovechkin has almost single-handedly brought the Caps back from the dead and put them in position to be the 3-seed (granted, it's a crappy division, but still). Take him away from that team, and they're probably in the lottery for the top draft pick.

Sure, when AO completely tanked the first half of the season it became painfully obvious how much the team is dependent on him. The Pens meanwhile find ways to win even they're missing Sid and/or Malkin. If you look at it that way, Ovechkin should win the Hart.

The award is supposed to goto the player who means most to his team (not the best player in the league) but of course every year it goes to the best player in the league which this year is Sid hands down. Voters love goals, but Sid is the face of the league.

no name wrote:The award is supposed to goto the player who means most to his team (not the best player in the league) but of course every year it goes to the best player in the league which this year is Sid hands down. Voters love goals, but Sid is the face of the league.

So, how can you deny Bobrovsky hasn't meant the most to the Columbus Blue Jackets?